God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 168: Working Together (4).

A clearing In the forest was a bit more densely populated by humans than the rest of the forest. Here, a group of 19 humans and a huge mutant beast scurried around doing all sorts of things.

An old man who looked as though he had seen better days had a serious expression on his face as he stared at a drum of water. This drum was the same one Stan had made when they were at the shore and he had fought the {King Lobster}.

A magic circle hovered above his hand as he stared at the drum in complete focus. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead as he let out strenuous sounds.

Suddenly, his eyes widened as a dense blanket of white fog burst out of the magic circle and into the drum of water.

In the blink of an eye, the entire drum had frozen over. A white mist seeped out of the solid ice, causing the old man to have a pleased expression on his face.

"This should be enough..." The old man said, only for him to turn around and see Cain standing behind him with a pondering look on his face.

"Ahh!" The old man let out a frightened yell as he moved a step backward, but was obstructed by the drum of ice behind him.

"Relax... I'm not here to eat you," Cain said, as the shimmer of {Eye of Clairvoyance} faded away from his left eye.

"Sorry... T-that wasn't what I was trying to imply. Forgive me!" Old Man Ling bleed his head and said, his tone showing that he was extremely fearful of Cain.

'Why is he so scared?'

'Master!'

Ruby, whom Cain hadn't seen in a while said with joy as she strutted toward Cain and Old Man Ling.

Cain noticed a visible shiver from the old man as Ruby moved closer.

'Is he perhaps scared of her?' Cain thought to himself.

'Old man! Why aren't you greeting Master!'

"I'm sorry, Princess Ruby! It won't happen again!" The old man said shakily as he dropped down to his knees and prostrated before Cain and Ruby.

Cain was shocked beyond belief when he heard Ruby communicate with the old man.

'Hehehe... Master seems surprised.' Cain could almost see the beastly, yet satisfied smile on the mutant creature's face.

'System... What's the reason for this?' Cain asked

{Replying to host: Every single being on this planet is constantly evolving, gaining new traits every day. This can be due to a multitude of reasons, but most of the time, it just means the mutant in question has seen evolution once again.

This can be triggered by many things, but taking into all the necessary factors, the mutant creature's most recent evolution is definitely a result of its increased integration with other humans that aren't the host}.

'Is that so...'

Turning back to Old Man Ling, Caim said in a soft voice,

"I need you to help me with something. In exchange, I will grant you power." Cain's words were like the whispers of a devil, but how could the old man even dream of resisting?

"W-with what?"

A smile made its way to Cain's as he said nothing more, simply placing his hand on the old man's shoulder and the other hand on Ruby's shoulder before activating {Spatial Jump}.

In the blink of an eye, all three individuals had disappeared, leaving the other people in the clearing with scared and perplexed expressions.

***

"A bridge?" Old Man Ling all raised an eyebrow at Cain's words.

"Yes, A bridge. It's about time we moved forward. If we stay here, we are condemning ourselves to death. Resources are already getting scarce, you see...'

Cain stared at the ocean before pointing a finger at Old Man Ling's chest.

"The only person capable of doing that is you..."

"Me?! That's impossible!"

"No, it isn't. With your power, it should be relatively simple." Cain said with a hard look on his face.

Old Man Ling was silent for a while before speaking out,

"Boss, what are you planning? If it's not alright for me to know, I can-"

"No, it's alright. There isn't much to it at all." Cain said dismissively.

"If you want to know, then I'll tell you. The living supplies on this Island have all run out. The mutant beasts are all gone, and everything that was here previously has turned to dust..."

"Supplies, huh?" Old Man Ling thought about it for a while and found that to be true.

The area of the campus they were currently in didn't have a lot of places they could gather living supplies from. If they stayed here any longer, they wouldn't be able to sustain even basic living conditions.

"I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Oh... Enlighten me..."

"W-well... The mutant creature on land are terrifying, the ones in the waters would most definitely be even more dangerous and powerful. If we stay here, we might be safe, but I have a feeling that whatever is inside those waters is more dangerous and terrifying than anything we have ever seen!"

"So?" Cain asked, staring into his eyes.

"So, I ask that you reconsider. Let us wait until we have all gathered up a decent amount of strength. I'm sure that with your help, we will quickly be able to accumulate enough strength to"

"Sigh...." Cain let out a long sigh, prompting Grey to pause his speech.

"As they say, ignorance is bliss. Do you want to know the most damned type of prey?" Cain asked.

"What do you-" At this point, Grey was getting confused.

"Listen, and listen well. The most damned kind of prey is the one that has no idea that its predator is breathing down its neck, inching closer and closer with every passing second, while it's taking its time drinking from the river."

"So you are saying?!"

Cain had a slight smile on his face as he continued,

"It's exactly as you think. We aren't the only ones who are growing stronger. If we waste too much time, they'll come for us, and because they have access to more resources, we'll be sitting ducks, and lambs to the slaughter. If you haven't realized, then I do prefer my head attached to my body. We move first, we get the advantage. As simple as that..."

"You are a genius, huh?" Old Man Ling was amazed by how Cain was able to think so far ahead. Maybe due to his old age, he was able to understand Cain's intentions and the undertones he subtly passed to him. Even with all the events happening all around him, he still had the mental capacity to think about the future...

"Genius? Haha... I'm no genius. I just have a few loose screws up here." Cain said with a wide grin, pointing at his head.

"Then I'll go prepare, boss!" Old Man Ling said to Cain with newfound respect in his gaze.

"Before you go, I've got something for you..."

"For me?"

A light flashed briefly in his hand before it was replaced by a handful of shiny items. Cain pulled more than 30 grade 8 water elemental mana shards from his inventory. With a smile, he handed it over to Old Man Ling.

"Haha... for you."

Cain watched as Old Man Ling took ahold of the shiny gems with a look of wonder on his face. The dense energy in the mana shards would be very enticing to him as he had never come in contact with them before.

"I will never forget this, boss! I promise to serve you well!" Old Man Ling shouted, his voice full of emotions. What Cain had done was the final brick on the wall for Grey. He had finally made his decision and had chosen to whom he would offer his fate for safekeeping, in exchange for unwavering loyalty...

"You better do, hahaha..." Cain laughed, semi-serious.

"Alright... Absorb the energy inside these mana shards. It will improve the quality of your mana and skills. That way, you will be able to complete the task better..."

"Okay, boss!" The old man said before dropping to the ground. He heaped the gems into a pile, then began absorbing the finely refined mana within the gems one by one.

'Things are going according to plan for now...'

Although he had faith in his plan, Cain wasn't confident in pulling it off successfully.

'The greatest problem this plan faces is the amount of danger involved. I also have a feeling things aren't going to be so smooth.' Cain had a dark look in his eyes as he let his gaze drift over into the distant grey ocean.

Suddenly, there was rustling in the bushes nearby. A large flame wolf burst out of the bushes but was quickly replaced by the large figure of Hunter. There was a serious expression on Hunter's face. Without waiting for Caon to say anything, he dropped a huge bombshell on him.

"I just noticed movement on one of the other Islands."

"Movement?"

"At first I wasn't sure, but I remember that that part of the school has a few speed boats docked by its shore," Hunter said.

Cain had a contemplating look on his face. He figured there would be a few survivors, but he wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing.

"There are three teams headed out of the Island. One is headed here, while the other two are headed towards the central region and last Island. Do we make contact?" Hunter asked.

"Heading out now could prove to be even more dangerous. We can't be sure what their intentions are. It will take some time before all the conditions necessary to make the ice bridge are made available." Cain said.

"For now, let's wait and see..."

***

On the Ocean...

Rollo stared at the boundless grey with a stoic expression on his face...

"Only the gods know what sort of devilish creatures dwell within these waters. Don't you think this is a bit too dangerous?" One of Rollo's followers said with a worried expression on his face.

Any sane person would be incredibly scared. After all, not only was the combination of grey skies and inky dark waters a terrifying combination, it was a certainty that the creatures in the water were many times more terrifying than the ones they had faced on land.

"Ocean creatures have been many times more dangerous than regular land creatures even before the apocalypse. It doesn't help that if they sink our boats, we would be fighting them in their territory, which would mean certain death for most if not all of our forces..." Another one of his men said whilst cleaning his long sharp saber...

"Regardless, all that doesn't matter. There is a great difference between power and strength. Should any creature cross our path, I will cut it down." Rollo said, his stoic expression never faltering. The runes on the broad sword on his back and in his eyes glowed crimson, as he clenched his heavily rune-tattooed arm.

"Besides, this assignment was given to us by the boss. Should anything go wrong, someone's life is surely forfeit..."

"What exactly does The Boss want us to do once we get there? I heard two other expedition teams are being sent out..." The man said.

Rollo fell silent for a while, his gaze never leaving the grey horizon...

"Conquest..."

The man was stumped by Rollo's reply, "Conquest? Are you saying...?!"

"Yes... Take what we want, gather those who are willing, and kill all those who resist." Rollo said coldly.

"But that's insane! Shouldn't we be looking for ways to gather everyone together under the same boat?!" The other man said frantically.

"Enough... All we need to do is obey without question. Am I clear? Defy The Boss's orders and your life will become a sacrifice to the blood god..." Rollo said, his tone dropping a few degrees.

"But-!"

Rollo broke his gaze away from the horizon and onto the man beside him, causing him to break into a cold sweat...

"Am I clear?"

"Yes..."

Rollo turned his gaze back onto the horizon with a heavy heart.

'Damn it!'